Colorado Braking Its Reckless Skiers

By WILLIAM E. SCHMIDT, Special to the New York Times

Published: April 16, 1989

DENVER, April 15—
The two accidents were among the worst on the Colorado ski slopes this season: an 11-year-old girl was killed and an 8-year-old boy's leg was shattered. Both children were struck by adult skiers out of control.

A prosecutor in the mountain town of Hot Sulphur Springs brought felony criminal charges against the skiers. It was the first time in Colorado that recreational skiers had confronted felony charges as a result of behavior on the slopes.

Now those two incidents, which occurred in February, have become the focus of a much wider debate among ski resort operators, law-enforcement officials and lawyers.

As the Colorado skiing season draws to a close, the cases have led to questions about what resorts are or are not doing to police their own slopes and whether it is appropriate for local law-enforcement agencies in ski towns to start going after reckless skiers as they would go after reckless drivers. 'You Become a Deadly Weapon'

''If you ski fast and do not operate with other people's rights in mind, you become a deadly weapon, just as happens when you drive a car recklessly,'' said District Attorney Greg Long of Grand and Routt counties, who brought the felony charges in the two cases in northern Colorado. It is common for good skiers in good condition to travel up to 30 miles an hour without losing control.

The criminal prosecutions in Colorado of a 31-year-old Texan and a 38-year-old resident of Steamboat Springs, Colo., have been praised by newspaper editorialists, ski patrol officers and recreational skiers. Many skiers have recounted close calls with reckless and out-of-control skiers on the slopes.

But the issue also poses a problem for the state's $1.9 billion ski industry, which is sensitive to questions implying injury and liability. Concern for Sport's Image

While industry officials say they endorse Mr. Long's tough prosecutions in the children's cases, they also argue that there has been no surge in slope collisions or injuries because of reckless skiers. The industry fears that a crackdown could damage the sport.

''There is an essential dilemma here,'' said John Lay, the president of Colorado Ski County USA, the ski resorts' promotional group. ''It is the exhilaration of freedom and a certain amount of controlled speed and risk that makes skiing what it is.'' Mr. Lay concedes that the industry is concerned about the image of skiing as a safe and sane sport, particularly since it is marketed more and more as a family sport.

Colorado is not the first state to grapple with the hazard of skiers who go too fast. As a result of problems with ''hot dog'' skiers, officials of Blaine County, Idaho, passed an ordinance against reckless skiing in 1986 that empowers prosecutors and ski areas to get tougher on what happens on the slopes.

Last year a skier in Sun Valley, Idaho, spent three days in jail after a hit-and-run collision that left another skier with a serious back injury. Fear of False Prosecution

The question of how to police ski slopes has led to a great deal of introspection in Colorado, whose resorts account for nearly 10 million of the 54 million ski lift tickets sold last year.

Mr. Long said resorts were often reluctant to report accidents involving reckless behavior to law-enforcement agencies for fear they would be falsely prosecuted. ''The trick is how to distinguish between recklessness and innocent mistakes where someone gets hurt but has no criminal or even civil culpability,'' he said.

Under state law, skiers are required to control their speed and course. It is a crime to ski drunk or impaired or leave the scene of a skiing accident.

Although industry officials insist that the problem involves a relatively small number of irresponsible people, they began a round of meetings here this week to come up with some policy to address growing public concern about reckless skiers.

On Friday, lawyers for several resorts met with county prosecutors in western Colorado; on Monday they will talk with representatives of the National Ski Patrol, a 51-year-old organization of 24,000 skiing and mountaineering experts. The issue will be taken up next month by the National Association of Ski Areas at its convention in Anaheim, Calif. When the Children Were Struck

On Feb. 17 at Winter Park Ski Area, 40 miles northwest of here. Kari Meylor, an 11-year-old girl from Sioux City, Iowa, was standing at the bottom of a hill waiting for her parents to ski down when she was hit by Howard Hidle of North Richland Hills, Tex. Investigators say he was moving at a high speed and was out of control.

Kari suffered severe head injuries and died the next day in a Denver hospital. Mr. Hidle was subsequently charged with two felonies, manslaughter and child abuse, and reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor.

Mr. Long said child abuse charges would be filed in any case involving violence to children. He said children were less capable of avoiding - or anticipating - reckless skiers.

Charles Friedman, a lawyer in Fort Worth who is defending Mr. Hidle, has denied that his client was skiing recklessly. He says Mr. Hidle, who had gone to the resort with his parents and a church group, lost control and fell after another skier cut him off.

''It is a tragedy, but accidents happen,'' said Mr. Friedman, who said his client was devastated by both the death of the child and the charges.

A week later in the Steamboat Springs Ski Area, a skier who was flying through the air struck 8-year-old Russell Wittman, who was traversing a hill with his father, mother and older brother. Father Now a Campaigner

Russell's father, Steve, a San Diego lawyer, said the boy was knocked unconscious and his leg was gashed to the bone and shattered in several places. Mr. Wittman said the skier tried to get up and ski away but was stopped by other skiers.

That skier, Terrance Coghlan, was later charged with reckless endangerment and felony child abuse as well as second-degree assault, a felony. Both men face up to 24 years in prison and fines of $1 million if convicted.

Since the accident, Mr. Wittman has become a public campaigner, arguing that ski resorts are not doing enough to watch their slopes and are negligent in reporting collisions or accidents involving reckless skiers to law-enforcement agencies.

Mr. Wittman said the ski area officials did nothing to the man who hit their son and did not even report the accident to the local sheriff. ''They told me there was nothing they could do about it,'' said Mr. Wittman, who said the incident was finally reported to the county sheriff by the local hospital.

Most ski areas currently deal with reckless or out-of-control skiers by confiscating their tickets to ride the lift. The only other remedy available to those injured in a collision with a skier is a civil lawsuit. Most ski areas lack the legal authority to apprehend skiers.

The ski areas' association says the incidence of mid-slope collisions resulting in injury has increased slightly in the last decade, accounting for 7.7 percent of ski injuries, as against 5.5 percent 10 years ago.

Photo of Dave Solawetz and Bryan Hallack, members of a ski patrol, monitoring traffic at the Winter Park Ski Resort in Winter Park, Colo. (NYT/Bruce McAllister).